Chapter 3

The heavy metal gates slowly sealed shut behind the crawler, completely shutting out the sky of swirling yellow sand.

As soon as I stepped out of the cabin, I clearly felt the subtle change.

Over the past three years, whenever I appeared in the fortress, patrolling mercenaries and bottom-tier laborers alike would instinctively make way for me, even bowing their heads in respect. They knew I was the only source in this wasteland who could conjure up clean food and medicine.

But tonight was different.

As I carried my tool bag toward the elevator, the mercenaries standing on either side of the corridor didn't even shift their stances.

Gripping the modern rifles taken from me, they looked at me with eyes full of utter disdain.

They knew Kael had gotten the black box and Nova had gotten the armory overrides. In their eyes, I was already a useless piece of trash.

I kept my head down, ignoring their gazes, and went straight back to my room.

I checked the black box to ensure it was perfectly intact.

At 8 PM, the core hall of the fortress was brightly lit.

Originally an assembly hall used for distributing weekly rations, it had now been transformed into a raucous drinking party. To celebrate "securing the black box," Nova had even brought out a whole case of hard liquor and two boxes of vacuum-sealed roasted meat I had brought over just last month.

Heavy metal music blasted through the speakers as Kael's men sat around the long table, ferociously tearing into chunks of meat.

Kael sat at the head of the long table, his boots propped up on the tabletop.

I sat in an inconspicuous spot at the edge of the party.

Nova walked over holding two glasses of liquor. Amidst the deafening music, she sat in my lap incredibly naturally and shoved one of the glasses into my hand.

"Ethan, we did it."

I saw her eager gaze.

"We can't delay any longer," Nova lowered her voice, a sense of urgency in her tone. "Didn't you say you have to go back to the lab in modern society to grant me access to the time machine from the main console?"

She raised her hand and gently stroked my chest. "Go back tonight and set up my permissions."

I looked into her eyes. She was getting incredibly impatient to kick away her final stepping stone.

"I want to get this sorted out right away too, so I can take you back for a better life." I held her hand, my brows furrowing slightly. "But Nova, you have to get Kael to return the black box to me."

The smile on Nova's face froze for a second. Her gaze drifted over my shoulder, lingering briefly on Kael, who was currently getting dead drunk in the distance.

"Ethan, don't you know Kael by now? He's so violent and paranoid. Right now, the black box is his bargaining chip to control the situation. There is no way he'll let us take it away at this moment." Nova turned back, holding my face in both hands, her tone incredibly gentle. "Listen to me, you go back and set up the system first. Cracking the black box doesn't have to happen this exact second. We can leave it here for now. I promise I will guard it."

I stayed silent, my expression looking completely torn.

Seeing this, she leaned in closer. "I promise you, as soon as you unlock my access, I will personally get the black box from Kael and immediately bring it to your lab through the portal. Do you not trust me?"

What a classic "don't you trust me."

"...Alright," I let out a slow sigh, making my voice sound full of helpless resignation. "I've made you live in fear these past few years. As long as it makes you feel safe, I'll do as you say."

Hearing my agreement, the corners of Nova's eyes curled up uncontrollably. She downed the liquor in her glass in one gulp, pulled my hand, and stood up.

"There's no time to lose. Let's go right now. Kael, you come too."

Kael finished his drink, kicked aside the drunken men lying haphazardly across the floor, and got up.

We followed the dim corridor to the control room in the deepest part of the fortress.

In the center of the room, the time machine was quietly on standby. It didn't have a complex control console; on the outside, there was only an electronic passcode panel connected by cables. The true quantum supercomputer mainframe and operating backend were all sitting back in the modern lab.

It was like this was an ATM, while the actual bank was in the modern era.

"This is the thing?" Kael walked up to the pod doors, reaching out to pat the cold exterior, his eyes full of greed. He turned to look at me, as if giving an order. "Open it, demonstrate it once, and then get your ass back there and activate the access."

"Teach me," Nova said, as greedy as a wolf staring at a slab of meat.

I walked up to the passcode panel on the side of the pod and took a deep breath.

Nova immediately pressed up against it, her eyes glued to the panel. Kael squinted as well.

"This machine isn't that complicated." I pointed to the row of keys on the panel, reached out a finger, and punched in five numbers. A line of text appeared on the screen: Passcode Correct.

"The startup passcode is 20260," I said. "After pressing the numbers, just hit this red start button next to it. The pod doors will open, and it will automatically teleport you within one minute."

"20260," Nova murmured incredibly softly under her breath, without even turning her head. "Just the passcode is enough?"

"As long as you enter this passcode, the machine will run." I took a step back and looked at her. "The prerequisite is your clearance. As long as your access is granted, whenever you want to go, just press these keys. Once I get back, I'll immediately use the modern mainframe to authorize your permissions."

"About how long will that take?" Nova spun around, her eyes startlingly bright.

"It will take a long time on my end, but for you here, it should only take about one minute." I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets, my fingers brushing against the real black box through the fabric, my tone becoming incredibly casual. "One minute later, you can head over. Remember, don't forget to bring the black box."

Nova could no longer contain the huge smile on her face.

She had absolutely no intention of bringing any black box. Right now, her brain was entirely consumed by the thought of going to modern society.

"Don't worry, Ethan." Kael also smirked at this moment, stepping forward to put an arm around Nova's shoulder. He looked at me like he was staring at an absolute idiot. "One minute. We'll be timing it on this end."

"Okay."

I walked up to the passcode panel and, right in front of them, punched in those five numbers for the last time.

Then, I slapped my palm against the red start button.

The pod doors popped open amid a hiss of white steam. I didn't spare the man and woman another glance as I stepped straight into the metal capsule.

Blue light flared from the baseplate, and a sense of weightlessness swept over my entire body. The doors shut, and my vision was shattered by twisting light.

"BOOM—!"

An ear-piercing sonic boom exploded in the machine room, and a violent churning sensation ripped through my organs for about three seconds.

Thud!

Accompanied by a heavy crash, my entire body slammed hard onto the floor from mid-air.

A sharp pain flared in my right shoulder as momentum skidded me half a meter forward, stopping only when I crashed into a metal filing cabinet.

There was no sulfuric stench of sandstorms here—only the quiet hum of an air purifier and the rich aroma of coffee.

"My God!"

My partner, Marcus, abruptly shot up from his lab bench. He rushed over, reaching out to pull me up.

"Ethan! Why are you back so suddenly? Did you find the black box to stop the disaster?"

I forcefully scrambled up from the floor, pulled out the black box, and tossed it into Marcus's arms.

"Take this, and step back," my voice was incredibly hoarse.

My gaze instantly locked onto the machine dead in the center of the lab. This was the main control console for the time machine.

A red signal light was blinking rhythmically, indicating that the portal interface on the other side was still on standby, ready for bilateral connection at any moment.

I spun around, strode briskly to the glass fire equipment cabinet in the corner, and ripped the door open.

"Ethan? What are you doing?" Clutching the hard drive, Marcus stared at me, completely stunned.

I didn't answer. I grabbed the long-handled fire ax, turned around, and marched right up to the control console. Gripping the ax handle with a death grip, I raised it high over my head.

"Have fun staying over there."

I brought the ax down with every ounce of strength I had!

Blinding electrical sparks exploded wildly inside the chassis, accompanied by a plume of pungent, burning blue smoke.

Marcus let out a horrified shriek.

But I just maintained my death grip on the ax handle, my chest heaving violently.

...

At this very moment, in the top-floor machine room of the Black Iron Fortress.

The pillar of blue light on the machine had completely dissipated, signifying that Ethan had indeed been successfully teleported away.

Nova stood in front of the console, trembling with excitement.

"Fifty-eight."

"Fifty-nine."

"Sixty."

Time was up.

Without hesitation, Nova stepped forward and entered the passcode exactly as Ethan had taught her. A line of green text instantly popped up on the screen: [Passcode Correct].

Then, without a second thought, she swung her hand and smashed the red button. The doors opened, and Nova impatiently stepped inside.

"Beep—"

An incredibly brief and piercing electronic prompt sounded: Connection Terminated.